User Reviews

Strengths: Exactly at claimed weight. Engagement is phenomenal. Makes kings feel slow to pick up. Very stiff laterally. Changed the way my bike felt for the better. Tubeless compatability of rims is excellent. Great customer service.

Weaknesses: Initally had trouble getting spokes to maintain tension. This is a race day wheelset: the crests are soft and prone to dinging.

Bottom Line:

These wheels took a long time to come in. However, the folks at i9 were really helpful, and patiently answered my questions about their status. Unboxing them was great. Putting them on the scale, they came out to exactly claimed weight. Tubeless setup is fantastic. The tires are extremely hard mounting, so once you struggle to get the bead on there, they air right up with no hassle.

Once riding them, I noticed the freehub had some drag, but after about 20 miles, that went away. They felt great, loads stiffer than the stock wheelset (specialized's mid teir 2011 wheelset, which I had rebuilt immediately upon purchasing the bike, and tensioned with a tensionometer). At first it was a little hard to get used to the way they felt cornering. This wheelset feels like no other I've ridden: i've been impressed since my first spin on them in the parking lot.

They get up to speed really quickly for a 29er wheel, which makes the techy singletrack near where I live more fun. Engagement is tits. These have cured my lust of king stuff. They corner great, and are exceptionally rigid. Quite Fun. I really doubt that if I were to build a cost-no-object wheelset (though I realize that some might think industry nines cost-no-object) I could do any better, except maybe go with some beefier rims.

As far as durability: I ride the piss out of these wheels and it shows. My riding is definitely on the aggressive end of XC. I probably should have gone with the arch build, as the stan's rims are pretty soft and ding up easily. Initially the rear wheel would keep coming untensioned, even though I followed their retensioning directions. What finally solved the problem was detensioning the wheel, applying plenty of spokefreeze, being careful to coat the entire thread (though I think linseed oil would probably work as well), and retensioning. No trouble since.

I've heard and seen of the rear hubs failing and/or the bearings wearing quickly. Mine have held up. A friend's wheel failed before a race, and industry nine immediately shipped a REPLACEMENT rear wheel to him, expecting him to send back the one with the faulty hub. These things aren't as consistent as something like mavic or king, but the company is much smaller, and I think the product is better, and I love to see a company do whatever they can to make right for the customer.

I think these are way over rated. They don't do anything better than the Stan's or Mavics. I actually like the Stan's better.

Buy these if you like the gee whiz factor and colors. Buy Stan's if you want a great affordable wheel.

Their customer service however was horrible. I ordered the 15mm thru axle end caps for the front. Received an empty envelop. After many e mails back and forth, and being told the product was shipped over night, still no end caps. Did get my money refunded (less shipping). No one there seemed too concerned.

I think these are way over rated. They don't do anything better than the Stan's or Mavics. I actually like the Stan's better.

Buy these if you like the gee whiz factor and colors. Buy Stan's if you want a great affordable wheel.

Their customer service however was horrible. I ordered the 15mm thru axle end caps for the front. Received an empty envelop. After many e mails back and forth, and being told the product was shipped over night, still no end caps. Did get my money refunded (less shipping). No one there seemed too concerned.

Strengths: From First Contact to the folks at I9 all the way to the Fed-Ex box at my best Friends LBS and continues to this day. EXCEPTIONAL

Weaknesses: NONE

Bottom Line:

These are the Best Wheels I have ever ridden.
Best Friends LBS called the folks and set-up account same day. My wheel are Full Custom.
Stans ZTR Race 29er rim build with the rest of the Ultralight Build from I9.
Weight = 1,480 grams.
The Engagement is insane, don't make a peep of noise.
Already gave them there initial spoke calibration as suggested....flawless. They are smooth and predictable in all types of terrain.

Related Ultralite 29 Forum Posts

So i'm looking at getting a set of i9s, and while I really want the Ultralite wheel set, i'm not sure if I should go for the Trail 24 set instead. They will not be a race only set, and will be used for pretty much all of my riding, which ranges from XC racing to some light trail (but still on an XC ... Read More »